As I sat here last week putting together a post about the heat, little did I know a disaster was unfolding on our rural block. We watched a storm skirt the edge of our farm on the weather radar on Monday 20th but we knew we didn't get any rain. What we didn't know was that it was a dry storm and lightening sparked a blaze which gained momentum overnight into Tuesday. When the wind picked up Tuesday lunchtime, it exploded. Our block was directly in its path and we were two and a half hours away at our day jobs. The buildings were saved by a neighbour but the rest, including our historic stockyards, weren't so lucky. We feel incredibly lucky the damage is primarily cosmetic, with no loss of life and none of our neighbours lost homes despite the fire burning out over 2200 hectares. The loss of the stockyards has hit us the hardest. It was one of the prettiest features of the block - completely useless to put stock in, but gorgeous to look at. Our cattle are not yet fully accounted for, but we've seen most of them. We suspect some have taken to the roads to meet up with other cattle who have been similarly liberated by the widespread loss of fencing. Our gate was open for nearly 24 hours as the firefront went through - letting our cattle out and other cattle in. We'll be heading back out to search for them on the weekend. We're treating the fire as a learning experience and agree we'll be much better prepared next time. Some of the things we learned:
This same week, one year ago, we were flooded onto the block after an ex-cyclone crossed the coast and dumped a year's worth of rain in two days. Fires, we learned, are a much quicker disaster than floods. We were out fixing fencing within 12 hours, whereas with floods you need to wait for the water to go down, which can take weeks. We now have temporary (and slightly dodgy) fencing all the way around the block and are back at our day jobs for a bit of a reprieve. In all the rush of this last week, I completely missed the Australia Day celebrations. So happy Australia Day all - I hope you had a great day. Summer in Australia can be crazy - this year's certainly is.
Our house is designed to be eco-friendly - lots of louvres and windows positioned to capture the breeze but no air-conditioning. Ninety-nine percent of the time this doesn't worry me. We're now in the other one percent. We do have a pool, but as anyone with fair skin will tell you, the Aussie sun burns! So I don't visit the pool during the middle of the day. No matter how much I might want to. The coolest part of our house today is our garage. Gromit the wonder dog is stretched out on the cool concrete floor with a gentle breeze coming from the evaporative cooler (which has a reservoir filled with ice). Being thirteen, we need to keep her comfortable. She has a paddle in the pool, comes in and lies down in the breeze and dreams of days gone by. I worry about her old bones on cold concrete, but when she chooses it over the four beds available, I figure I should let her be. Misty, on the other hand, is living up to her nickname of PigPen (from the Charlie Brown comics). She's found some dirt under our trees, scratched out a nice hollow and is sound asleep out there. All very well and good until she tries to come inside, with dust and sand and bits of tree stuck to her sides. I now have a packet of wet wipes at the door and give both sides a quick wipe before she comes in. I am writing today. Working on a short story that started over a box of Lindt chocolates from Christmas. Then its onto editing my futuristic novel. I'm slowly tightening and reorganising my first three chapters. Wish me luck. Every year my writing group commits to their writing goals for the year. Having the public accountability is really good because we take the time to celebrate our success as a group and we regularly revisit the list during the year to keep ourselves on track.
Here are my writing goals for 2014:
This year I've tried "building block goals" finish one before adding the next on top. This may or may not work for me, but I'll give it a shot. I've also got one other story playing round in my head. It will be my no pressure story - the one I work on in bits and starts throughout the year with the goal of finally pulling something together. I'm going to use Scrivener for that one - its great for single scene writing. Wish me luck.... Happy New Year!
I hope you're coming into 2014 feeling refreshed and revitalised. Team Greene had a quiet Christmas, with a tad too much food. We started 2014 a lot more relaxed than we ended 2013. I read a few books, watched a few videos and did some work around the farm. It was nice to have some screen free time. We had great weather, although it was quite hot coming into New Years. New Years means resolutions and mine for 2014 are (drumroll): 1. Exercise every day 2. Support local businesses not national conglomerations - we did this last year for every coffee and most meals we purchased out and were really happy that we did make a difference by choosing to support our locals (and not the fast food chains). 3. Commit to doing 101 things I listed on New Years day. My list, when I look at it could be broken down into broad categories - more creativity, more catch-ups with friends and family, more visits to museums, beaches and mountains. There's nothing difficult or particularly time consuming on the list - the challenge is making at least two of them happen each week for the next fifty-two weeks. (eeek). 4. More writing, less pfaffing. Items 1-3 seem to be in direct contrast to number 4, which provides its own challenge. Hopefully, I'll find the balance. What were your 2014 resolutions? |
Fiona Greene AuthorWhen you set out on a journey and night falls, that's when you will discover the stars." Archives
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